Baseball base anchoring device



April 28, 1970 x.. A. oRsATTl 3,508,747

BASEBALL BASE ANCHORING DEVICE Filed Nov. 6, 1967 United States Patent O3,508,747 BASEBALL BASE ANCHORING DEVICE Louis A. Orsatti, 1749 N.Eastern Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. 90032 Filed Nov. 6, 1967, Ser. No.680,764 Int. Cl. A63b 71/00 U.S. Cl. 273-25 9 'Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relatesgenerally to baseball bases and more particularly to a baseball baseassembly with an improved anchoring device.

In the past, conventional cloth-covered baseball bases were anchored inplace on the ground by means of straps on the base which were fastenedto stakes which were driven into the ground. Such strap andstake-anchoring arrangements for bases are not entirely satisfactory,however, in that the straps are prone to becoming loose or twisted underthe strains and impacts of ordinary use. Aside from the inconvenience ofplaying a baseball game with a loosened base, such a base poses a dangerto the players in that they can easily catch the spikes of their shoeson the loosened straps, or catch their feet under the base itself,causing falls which can and do result in serious injuries.

Because cloth-covered bases cannot be left exposed to the elements, theyare customarily taken in after each use and fixing in place or removingthe baseball base by means of straps, as well as maintaining the strapsin a properly tightened condition, is a time-consuming task. Therefore,various devices were employed to eliminate the relatively continualmanipulation of the straps. One method of accomplishing this is topermanently strap the base onto an anchoring plate and provide a stakepermanently ernbedded in the ground which cooperates with the anchoringplate to securely hold the base in position. An example of such a deviceis that disclosed in Patent No. 2,695,784 issued Nov. 30, 1954, to LouisA. Orsatti et al.

Further developments in the construction of baseball bases have resultedin the elimination of cloth coverings by providing unitary plasticsheaths which are impervious to the elements and which are filled with arelatively low cost, spongeous, plastic composition material. While suchbases last signicantly longer than conventional cloth-covered bases, andcould be left exposed to the elements, they are still customarily takenin after use, among other reasons, to permit refinishing of the ineldarea. The need for a convenient 4base-anchoring device is thereforestill present. However, even such modern plastic-sheath baseball basescould not heretofore be attached to the anchoring devices mentionedabove without the use of conventional straps. Therefore, prevention ofthe physical danger to the players and maintenance of the base rmly inits proper place on the anchor plate still required that continualattention be given to the proper adjustment of the straps.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To solve the above problems in quickly andconveniently anchoring a baseball base in place on the ground 3,508,747Patented Apr. 28, 1970 and to eliminate the straps normally used withsuch bases, the present invention provides a new and improved anchoringdevice for baseball bases and particularly for bases having unitaryplastic sheaths filled with a spongeous composition material. v

In the illustrated preferred embodiment, an anchoring bracket isattached to the underside of the base by means of bolts which arethreaded into wooden plugs set in the spongeous ller of the base, thuseliminating the need for straps. The wooden plugs are of relativelylarge diameter compared to that of the bolts to provide suicient surfacecontact with the spongeous material to firmly hold the plugs in place.The wooden plugs also provide a rigid material to which the bolts may besecured.

The anchoring bracket and attached base cooperate with an anchoring postpermanently embedded in the ground to rmly fix the base in positionflush with the ground surface.

As an aid in firmly securing the base, and the plastic sheath itself, tothe anchoring bracket, integral tubular projections are provided on theportions of the sheath through which the bolts pass. The projections tinto holes provided in the wooden plugs and the bolts pass through theprojections and into the plugs.

As an added reinforcement of the sheath and to seal the base, a thinplastic sealing sheet is sealed in place over the underside of the basebetween the sheath and anchoring bracket.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of abaseball base anchored in place on the ground by means of the anchoringdevice of the invention, with portions of the base, anchoring device andground being shown in section;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view of a baseball base anchored in place bymeans of the present anchoring device;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary View in the direction of lines 3-3of FIGURE l;

FIGURE 4 is an exploded perspective view of portions of the anchoringdevice shown ona reduced scale; and

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of a portion of abaseball base and attached anchoring device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawing, thepreferred embodiment of the baseball base anchoring device is adaptedfor use with a baseball base 10- which generally has a unitary sheath 12made of a plastic material which encases a block of spongeous fillermaterial 14 which has the shape of a conventional baseball base. Ananchor bracket 16 is mounted on the underside of the base 10 by means offour bolts 18. The bolts 18 are securely fastened to wooden plugs 20which are set in holes 22 in the spongeous ller 14.

The anchor bracket 16 has a sleeve section 24 extending outwardly fromthe center of the bracket. The internal area of the sleeve section 24has a rectangular cross-section and the base 10 is anchored in place bytelescoping the sleeve section 24 over an anchor post 26, also with arectangular cross-section, which is upstanding in a recess 28 in theground.

The anchor post 26 is securely anchored in the recess 28 by a lowermounting section 30 on the post which is embedded in a concrete block 32buried in the ground. The anchor post 26 and concrete block 32 are setin the ground so that the top 34 of the anchor post does not extendabove ground level.

With the sleeve section 24 of the anchor bracket 16 telescoped on theanchor post 26, it can be seen that the base cannot be movedhorizontally along the ground and the rectangular cross-section of thekeyed post and sleeve section prevent rotational movement of the base.

More particularly, the plastic sheath 12 is a single molded unit whichcompletely encases the top and sides of the filler material 14. Toincrease the strength of the base construction and to aid its secureattachment to the anchoring device, the sheath 12 also extends asuflicient distance over the underside of the base so that the edges ofthey sheath are held between a flat plate portion 36 of the anchorbracket 16 and the wooden plugs 20 when bolts 18 are tightened. To addfurther strength to the sheath 12 at the points where the bolts 18 passthrough it, tubular projections 38 integral with the sheath extend intocountersunk holes 4() in the wooden plugs 20; To reinforce the sheath 12and to aid in water-proofing the base 10, a thin sealing sheet 42 ofplastic material is heatsealed in place over the underside of thesheath, as shown in FIGURE 3.

As was briefly mentioned above, the anchor plate is attached to theunderside of the base by means of the four bolts 18, rather than theconventional straps. However, the spongeous iiller material 14 is toosoft and elastic to withstand the shear and compressive -forces whichwould be developed if the bolts 18 were threaded directly into the llermaterial. These bolting forces are therefore distributed over arelatively large area of the filler 14 by means of the wooden plugs 20.The wooden plugs 20 are conveniently constructed with a circularcross-section having a diameter substantially greater than the diameterof the bolts 18. It is to be noted, however, that the wooden plugs 20could be constructed in any shape which provides contact with the ller14 over a relatively large area. The wooden plugs 20 are mounted inappropriate holes 22 in the filler material 14 and are secured by meansof any suitably adhesive. The bottom of the plugs 20 are disposed flushwith the bottom of the iller material 14 but the plugs do not extendcompletely through this ller in order to provide spongeous padding onthe top portions of the base 10, In eiiect, the wooden plugs 20 provideareas of suiiicient rigidity to withstand the compressive forcesdeveloped by the bolts 18 in a spongeous material which could nototherwise withstand such forces.

While bolts designed for use with wood could be employed to attach theanuchor plate 16 to the underside of the base 10, it has been found tobe preferable for ease in bolting to employ bolts 18 which have threadsordinarily used with pre-formed metal threads. The bolts 18 extend intobores 43 through the wooden plugs 20. Suitable internal metal threadsfor the bolts 18 are provided by threaded inserts 44 extending into thebores 43 at the ends of the plugs opposite those in which the bolts 18are inserted. The shear forces developed on the threads by tighteningthe bolts 18 are therefore applied to metal rather than a relativelysoft wood of the plugs 20. The compressive forces developed bytightening the bolts are applied to the wooden plugs 20 by circularflanges 45 on the inserts 44 which extend over the ends of the plugs.

The base 10 is mounted on the anchor bracket 16 by inserting the bolts18 through the bracket, the thin sealing sheet 42, tubular projections38 on the sheath 12 and into the bores 43 in the plugs 20. Threading ofthe bolts into the inserts 44 draws the underside of the base 10 andintermediate sheath 12 and sheet 42 tight against the plate portion 36of the anchor bracket 16. The tightening force is transferred throughthe bolts 18 and inserts 44 to the wooden plugs 20 and thence to thetiller 14 through the surface areas ot" the plugs. The sheath 12 andreinforcing sealing sheet 42 are clamped between the plugs 20 and plateportion 36 further securing the base 10 in place on the anchor bracket16.

In the embodiment illustrated, the anchor bracket 16 has a generallysquare, iiat plate portion 36 with four bolt holes 46 near the cornersof the plate for mounting the base 10 onto the bracket. The sleevesection 24 of the anchor bracket 16 extends outwardly from the plane ofthe plate portion 36 at its center. As noted above, the internal area ofthe sleeve section 24 is rectangular in crosssection and is adapted totelescope and key with the anchor post 26.

The base 1t) and attached bracket 16 are held in place on the ground bythe anchor post 26 which is substantially fixed against movement withrespect to the ground. It will be appreciated that there are numerousways of fixing the anchor post 26 in the ground and that the illustratedmethod is only the presently preferred way. The illustrated anchor post26 has a lower mounting section 30 which is embedded in the concrete orcement-filled center portion of a concrete or cement b1ock32. As an aidto securing the anchor post 26 in the concrete, two pair of transversereinforcing lugs 48 project outwardly from the mounting section 30 witheach pair of lugs at a right angle to the other.

The anchor post 26 and concrete block 32 are embedded in the ground atthe appropriate place on the playing ield with the anchor post 26 set ina substantially vertical attitude. In order for the underside of thebase 10 to rest ush with the ground, the top 34 of the anchor post isat, or preferably slightly below, ground level. To provide clearancebetween the ground and the sleeve section 24 of the anchor bracket 16, arecess 28 is left around the upstanding portion of the anchor post 26.

The anchor post 26 and concrete block 32 are horizontally angularlyoriented in the ground so that when the sleeve section 24 of the anchorbracket 16 is telescoped and keyed onto the anchor post 26, the anchoredbase 10 will also have the proper horizontal angular orientation withrespect to the playing eld.

The baseball base anchoring device of the present invention thenprovides a means for quickly and simply anchoring a baseball base inproper position flush with a playing iield and which requires little orno maintenance as there are no straps to be cared for or adjusted,

It will be understood that, while particular forms of the invention havebeen illustrated and described, modifications of design and constructioncan be made without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention. Hence, the invention is not to be limited except as definedin the appended claims.

l claim:

1. In combination, a baseball base having a cover portion filled with aspongeous composition material, and an anchoring device for use withsaid base comprising:

post means adapted to be securely anchored in the ground; bracket meansadapted to detachably engage said post means, said bracket means havinga plate portion disposed on the underside of said baseball base; and

plug means attached to said plate portion and extending into saidcomposition material, said plug means having a bottom surface engagingsaid cover portion and securely clamping said cover portion between saidplate portion and said bottom surface.

2. The combination of claim 1, wherein:

said post means has a substantially rectangular crosssection', and

said bracket means includes a sleeve section with an internal areahaving a substantially rectangular crosssection adapted to telescope andkey with said post means.

3. The combination of claim 1, wherein said plug means is adhesivelymounted in holes in the spongeous composition material ltilling thebaseball base.

4. The combination of claim 1, wherein said plug means comprises aplurality of plug members mounted in spaced holes in the spongeouscomposition material filling the baseball base.

5. The combination of claim 1, wherein said plug means comprises fourplug members mounted in spaced 5 holes in the spongeous compositionmaterial lling the baseball base.

6. A baseball base assembly, comprising:

a baseball base having a unitary molded sheath encasing the top, sidesand portions of the bottom of a spongeous composition filler;

post means adapted to be embedded in the ground in a substantiallyvertical attitude, said post means having a substantially rectangularcross-section;

bracket means having a plate portion and a sleeve section, said sleevesection having an integral area of substantially rectangularcross-section and adapted to detachably telescope and key With said postmeans;

a plurality of plug means adhesively mounted in holes in the spongeouscomposition ller of said baseball base; and

bolt means associated, one each, with said plug means for attaching saidbracket means to said baseball base, each of said bolt means extendingthrough said portion of said sheath disposed over the bottom of thebaseball base and into its respective plug means, the cross-sectionalarea of said plug means being substantially greater than that of saidbolt means.

7. The baseball base assembly of claim 6, including tubular projectionsintegral with the portion of said sheath disposed over the bottom ofsaid baseball base, said projection being disposed around its respectivebolt means and extending into holes in said plug means.

8. The baseball base assembly of claim 6, including a sealing sheetdisposed on the underside of said baseball base between said plateportion of said bracket means and the portion of said sheath disposedover the bottom of said baseball base, said sealing sheet beingsealingly joined around its entire perimeter to said sheath.

9. The baseball ,base assembly of claim 6, including threaded insertsmounted in said plug means for cooperating with said bolt means toattach said bracket means to said baseball base.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,204,958 9/1965 Valasquez 273-25ANTON O. OECHSLE, Primary Examiner T. BROWN, Assistant Examiner

